2012 August | Plum Adorable

Yes…We are Still Alive!

I know… I know! It’s been a day or two or maybe 20 (TRULY, 20 DAYS!!) since our last post! Sorry about that folks! Things have been a little crazy here in the Northwest. I don’t know if you have heard or not, but we actually finally have SUMMER! YEP! It has consistently been over 70 degrees for DAYS (maybe even weeks) now! And for a few days there, we were going all crazy and record breaking and it was actually mid 90’s for like 2 WHOLE DAYS!!! And get this, we have gone like 30 something days WITHOUT RAIN! I know there are folks in the Midwest who are in desperate need of some of that and I wish we could have just sent the month of June down to you guys, for real!

So as you can imagine, Jenny and I have taken some liberty with this weather and our Plum Adorable Blog has suffered a bit for it. Sorry friends! But seriously, I haven’t sat down to craft anything in WEEKS (withdrawal has seriously set in!) and I think I have shared pretty much all my regular recipes for now. Plus, we have been camping and hiking and playing and pretty much doing EVERYTHING BUT getting any work done on our blog. Sorry again friends!

So today I will just be sharing a few quick favorites, some things that I am seriously loving right now because I am obviously spending a LOT of time playing and NOT much time on crafting or cooking or coming up with BRILLIANT new blog ideas (OBVIOUSLY!).

So I did a quick count in my head and was a bit shocked to realize that the kiddos are starting school in only 8 more wake ups! YIKES!! We had better start getting back into the swing of the early morning wake up routine. I am freaking out a little as my youngest is starting Kindergarten this year! Also a little nervous that we still don’t have any idea who her teacher will be. We are super blessed that my son Cole’s first grade teacher is looping this year- so she will just move up her entire first grade class from last year and teach them all this year as second graders. We LOVED her so that is a really good thing!

Speaking of kids…which leads to parenting… have you seen this bit of genius yet?? LOVE it!!

The Parent Rap

And speaking of that back-to-school routine and schedule? This is my FAVORITE calendar EVER! It fits right in my purse and I bring it everywhere. I don’t like using my phone at all so I needed something large enough to actually be able to see my schedule on a daily basis but small enough to fit in my purse. My good friend Bri introduced me to this baby a few years ago and I have NOT gone back! AND I just found out that they sell them at my husband’s work so I don’t even have to order them online anymore (but you totally can!). You can order them from Mixed Role Productions or check their list of stores!

I love how much space you get for your daily schedule! And it does have a monthly layout too!

Another newly discovered favorite of mine is a surprise for those who actually know me because it involves something I don’t normally like- coffee! That’s right, I am usually that 31 year old ordering a HOT CHOCOLATE when anyone wants to go out for coffee. But now, I have found a coffee drink I can get behind and actually kind of love!!!

And I have found out it is kind of a secret drink at Starbucks too! (Well, aren’t MOST of them, really?!) I swear there are like 6 drinks on their menu but like 50 they actually make! That’s the fun of Starbucks and places like In and Out, knowing the secret stuff to order!

Anyways, my favorite new drink is an Iced Black and White Mocha, also known as a Tuxedo Mocha. Seriously- so good!!!

And those are just a few of my favorite things this Monday! What is your favorite today? What have you been up to this summer? Hope you guys are having a good day today! Glad to be back in the blogosphere!!

~JESS

DIY Mega Bubbles–For all ages!

I have seen these bubbles on other blogs, but for some reason I didn’t REALLY believe they would work that well for me. If I would have known how easy these were to make, let alone how much fun they were, I would have done them years ago! The picture below was taken with my cell phone the first day we tried them out. Cool, right?

I’ve included the easy directions for you below as well as lots of cool pictures to inspire you.

I ended up making about 8 bubble wands because I knew the neighbor kids would come running when they saw how cool they were. I’m so glad I did, because running they came!

The wands are very simple to make.

What you need:

-2 Dowels

-2 Eye hooks (small enough to screw at the end of the dowels)

-Cotton String

-1 Washer

To Make The Wand:

-Screw the eye hooks to the end of each dowel

-Cut a longer piece of string and tie it to one eye hook, then loop the washer through the string and tie the other end to the other eye hook. Then cut a short of string and tie it to both eye hooks.

To Make The Bubble Solultion:

Mix Together in a tub-

- 6 cups distilled water

-2 cups dishwashing soap (Joy, Dawn etc.)

-3/4 cup light corn syrup

We have made so much bubble solution that it seems to be a different color every time depending on the type of soap we’ve used.

How to make a bubble:

Take your wand with the dowels held close to each other and dunk them in the solution. Lift up the dowels and slowly open up them up while walking (usually backwards) so the bubble starts to form. You can also ‘cut off’ the bubble by bringing the dowels together so it will float.